Letter to the Editor: Music should fit those attending
By BRYAN BOUCHER
Helper
Editor:
The Helper Arts and Music Festival is an annual event that is looked forward to by most of the population of Carbon County and probably much of Emery County as well.
Saturday evenings at the festival has always been the best attended segment of the music festival in the park. I would estimate from several years of attendance that the ages of the attendees range from infant to very senior citizens. Judging by the number of people abruptly leaving the park Saturday (Aug. 18) between 8 and 9 p.m. the choice of music scheduled by the festival appealed to a very small percentage of those in attendance. That is namely the teenagers interested in "moshing" in front of the stage. Through observation I would estimate the people "into" this music were 10 to 15 percent of the total crowd.
I asked several people outside this particular demographic what they thought of the music and they collectively said they would rather go home than listen to it. And that they did. Myself (53 years old), my wife and friends we attended with all left at that time.
I realize that there is a place for every type of music, but I don't feel this was the right time to have scheduled music that promotes violence (slam dancing, moshing) and alienates such a large segment of attendees while appealing to such a small segment of the audience.
I hope for the sake of the festival and all involved that in the future whomever schedules the music chooses acts (at least for Saturday evening) that are more amenable to the majority of attendees.
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